# Sterling AI

Startup profile on Capital Atlas: https://capitalatlas.ai/startups/sterling-ai

- Industry: Financial Services
- Headquarters: Wellington, New Zealand
- Website: www.histerling.com
- Total disclosed funding: $2.2M
- Latest round: Seed (Aug 13, 2026)
- Investors on record: 2

## About

Based in New Zealand, Sterling Ai Ltd, trading under the name Sterling engages in providing a finance AI-powered workflow automation platform.

Established in 2025 Sterling AI Limited was founded in Wellington, New Zealand by Nik Wakelin and Ludwig Wendzich, who lead the company as co-founders, with Wakelin serving as Chief Executive Officer; Erin Moriarty was appointed as an additional director shortly after incorporation. In August 2026, Sterling Ai Ltd raised NZD 3.8 million in seed funding led by new investor Blackbird, with participation another new investor Hoku Group.

Sterling operates an AI-powered workflow automation platform, positioned by the company as a supervised "autopilot" rather than a conversational assistant or dashboard, integrating with a finance team's existing enterprise resource planning systems and accounts inboxes. The platform prepares accruals, triages accounts payable, routes approvals, reconciles bank feeds, and produces management reporting, while logging automated actions and escalating ambiguous items to human staff for review and final sign-off, without requiring customers to replace existing accounting infrastructure.

Sterling generates revenue by supplying its AI workflow automation platform as a business-to-business software offering to finance and accounting teams, integrating with customers' existing accounting and enterprise resource planning systems rather than replacing them. Reported early customers span consumer goods, early childhood education software, and insurance broking, indicating a subscription-style commercial relationship with finance departments at small and mid-sized organizations. Specific pricing structures are not disclosed in company communications.

Following a seed funding round, Sterling plans to hire staff and expand commercially beyond its early customer base into larger enterprise finance teams across New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. The company intends to broaden the finance workflows its AI agents perform while maintaining a supervised, auditable approach as it targets larger prospective customers.

## Funding rounds

- Seed, Aug 13, 2026, $2.2M — Blackbird, Hoku Group

## Investors

- Blackbird (https://capitalatlas.ai/funds/blackbird) — Seed
- Hoku Group — Seed